Former Silicon Valley company found guilty in California trial

The founder of the American biotech company Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, was found guilty of fraud this Monday in a California court, in a case that has exposed the business culture of the Silicon Valley.

The jury concluded that Holmes was guilty of misleading investors into placing money in his startup based in that area of ​​California (western), which promised to revolutionize blood tests with faster and cheaper tools than those used by traditional laboratories.

It also cleared the executive of other charges and was unable to reach an agreement on several of the eleven charges she faced.

Holmes, 37, faces the possibility of spending years in jail, in a case that has drawn a dividing line in court between technological innovation and criminal dishonesty.

The former Silicon Valley fiancé founded Theranos at age 19. She claimed the company would revolutionize the industry for diagnostic tests with machines that could deliver rapid results with just a few drops of blood, a project that attracted major investors and made her a multimillionaire at age 30.

– Empire collapsed –

He was considered the next figure in the tech world and raised millions of dollars from investors who gambled on his company. However, her empire collapsed when The Wall Street Journal published a report in which it argued that its machines did not fulfill the promised functionality and that the executive could have misled investors and patients.

Holmes placed the logos of pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and Schering-Plow on Theranos reports that praised his company’s technology for analyzing blood tests, which were then sent to investors.

This was done without the authorization of those companies, which was a key piece in the arguments of the Prosecutor’s Office that maintained that she deliberately tried to increase the credibility of Theranos to gain financial support.

– ‘Fake it until you get it’ –

Theranos attracted prominent figures such as media mogul Rupert Murdoch, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Although they were all on the witness list, the defense only summoned Holmes, arguing that she believed in Theranos and worked hard on the project but failed.

Holmes also blamed her ex-partner and ex-boyfriend Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, a businessman nearly twenty years her senior who was her right-hand man in Theranos.

To the point of tears, the American assured the jury that Balwani mistreated her and forced her to have sex, accusations that he refuted.

Balwani will face another trial for his role in Theranos, whose charges he rejects.

The case has caused repercussions in the United States, for placing a figure in the world of technology on the bench and for placing the ambitious culture of entrepreneurs in the spotlight.

It’s rare to see failed Silicon Valley entrepreneurs face fraud charges.

One of the most repeated clichés in the startup world is “pretend until you make it,” which underpins the idea that it works by convincing people to invest huge amounts of money in the hope that one day they will achieve their promised success.